iKacy

Saturday 22nd October – Lovina

There appears to be a mouse that is eating my Dettol soap. My hyper awareness of Bali Belly caused me to buy several forms of antibacterial care for my hands. I have Dettol soap for the hotel. Antibacterial wipes for restaurants and before eating. And that antibacterial gel stuff, just because it only cost 30 cents and I stick it on my hands whenever I remember. I was proud of my army against bacteria and the lack of days spent either on the toilet or hovering metres away just in case, proved that I beat Bali Belly. So I was incensed to discover that a mouse is eating my soap! Our Lovina beach house has a semi outdoor kinda bathroom and every night for the last three nights, I have left my Dettol soap on the dish next to the sink and every morning there are more bite marks suggesting to me that some local animal has a serious case of the runs and believes eating my soap will help. Obviously after the first morning, I stopped using my half eaten soap, lest it infect me with some strange kind of mouse saliva disease or the plague, but it intrigues me that not only did it eat the soap the first night, having no idea what it would taste like, but obviously liked it enough to come back two more times. Weirdo. That has also left me using the local hand soap that smells like bubble gum. I am guessing it’s not antibacterial.

So here I am. The holiday is coming to an end. As it sit overlooking the pool, sweating but loving it, drinking Pocari Sweat and eating cold Saltines out of the fridge, I think about my changed impressions of Bali. Now, when people ask me what I think of Bali, what will my response be? Had I only been to Kuta, I think my response would have stayed the same as before I had come. Obnoxious and full of bogans. But luckily I visited other parts of the island and I loved it. There’s been some beautiful scenery, kind people and great food. But most importantly there’s been an opportunity to find a little space in my mind. Find a touch more peace and read more books. I look at myself in the mirror and I look less tired. More happy. And definitely more tanned.

Places of Interest

The table overlooking the pool

Airport

Friday 21st October – Lovina

During the whole “Bath Cake” incident, I discovered what a cream bath was. Basically you get your hair shampooed and conditioned with loads of relaxing and spine tingling extras. So lovely it was, I decided to pop into one of the many spas in Lovina to get it done again along with a pedicure. Lovina, though very hot, doesn’t appear to have many air-conditioned places so I was sweating profusely during my pedicure, made worse when I had to pop my feet into a bath of hot water. I could feel my hair sticking to my neck and beads of sweat were dripping off my arms. I shifted slightly in my plastic chair which which made my wet and bloated body feel awfully cumbersome and unattractive. I wanted to get out of there. But the pedicure was finally finished and the promise of having water doused on my head was enough to shut up my internal whinging.

It was good. It was better than good. When she began to stream freezing cold water on my head, it took all I had not to start  wailing in delight. It felt so good I felt desperate to verbalise it. It felt so good I almost couldn’t take it. As she washed the heat and the sweat and the sunscreen off my head and neck I could have kissed her. Made out with this unsuspecting Indonesian woman right then and there. The shampoo was followed by the best part of a cream bath, where they put some kind of conditioner in your hair and give you head massage that on occasion causes you to lose control over your own body and it’s all you can do not to slump in your chair and fold into the foetal position. Then they wrap your head up in a towel, turban style and begin to massage your neck, your shoulders and your hands and arms. On top of the hair shampoo and condition, you practically get a half body massage for less than $10.

Did I mention that I want to live here and never wash my own hair ever again?

Places of Interest

Green Spa Lovina

Astina’s Cafe – same menu and food as Cafe Made as we discovered after sitting down to a serious case of Deja Vu.

Il Letto – They were empty which is never a good sign but the spinach pappadele was surprisingly tasty.

Thursday 20th October – Lovina

Since we arrived in Bali, I has been continually stunned at how cheap the meals are. And these are not just street vendors selling local fare but even big restaurants selling Western Style food were still doing it for generally under 10-15 bucks per person. Lovina was even more of a surprise. Being much less of a tourist town, than a place like Kuta, the prices were rock bottom (and the tourists, thankfully weren’t all Australians, in fact I think we may have been the only ones). So I mentally made a note of all the meals we were having and how much we were paying. Our cheapest meal to date was two large main meals and four drinks for a measly $6 AUD. Yup, that’s $3 a person. Plus we got free entertainment, free garlic bread and free booze on top of that. HOLY SNAPPER!

My time in Lovina has followed a basic schedule. Wake up, eat, walk into town, pick up snacks and eat lunch, walk home, swim, read a lot and maybe eat dinner. It’s hot. It’s more humid than I have experienced elsewhere and I am beginning to get limp. I think that’s why my schedule has simplified down to the basics. Walking places just to get food, then sleeping to regain the energy lost by being upright and outdoors. I wasn’t sure if it was my pampered, over indulged body that was making the humidity almost unbearable or whether it really was that bad. That’s until the thunder. I was sitting on the toilet when the loudest clap of thunder I have ever heard hit just overhead. It was good I was on the toilet at the time because I almost pooped myself. At first I thought we were having another earthquake, or that Harold Camping was right and the world really was coming to an end. But then the rain started. It was thick and hot and made everything steamy. Suddenly the humidity made sense and I felt better that it wasn’t just my weak composure that had made the day so uncomfortable.

So I sat on the porch, watching the rain and enjoying the fact that my pace is slowing.

Places of Interest

Cafe Made – Decent Indonesian and Western dishes at a average of 30,000 rupiah per meal (That’s less than 4 bucks)

Tuesday 18th October – Lovina

The moment we arrived in Kuta, my boyfriend could tell I hated the place. It could have been because he knows me so well or perhaps because I said regularly, “Geez, I hate this place”. This was our first overseas trip together so I wanted to portray they perfect travel partner. Uncomplaining, wildly flexible to plan changes or uncomfortable circumstances and always on hand with a  cold drink or a witty observation. I wanted to be a breath of fresh are but in reality I was a stale breeze. It was hot, I wasn’t sleeping well and everywhere I looked there were bogans yelling things or wearing no shirts. I NEEDED TO GET OUT. In my desperation to be the perfect travel partner, I told myself I would just shut up and stick it out but my lovely boyfriend must have seen the craziness in my eyes and he arranged for us to leave for our third destination a day earlier.

Today we would be travelling north for 4 hours, until we reached the beach town of Lovina.

I slept (read: lay in a drugged up daze. I get badly motion sick and had to take tablets for the long and windy drive) for the first 2 hours and upon waking up and looking around at my new surrounding, my anxiety levels plummeted. We were in the mountains. There were large shady trees and small towns that had never seen “I heart Mel’s Boobies” stickers but instead sold petrol in old water containers. We were treated to a brief shower as we reached the highest point of the drive and everything looked…..Fresh. Slow. Peaceful.

We reached our hotel, where we would only be staying one night before moving to the place the we originally booked for the final four days of our holiday, and we met Fred. Okay, I actually have no idea way his name really is because as he was introducing himself to us, I was largely distracted by his frame. His girth. His perplexing body shape. Tiny head, tiny legs and the largest belly/bum section I have ever seen in real life. It wasn’t just that this guy was fat, that made me double take, it was more that he was so oddly fat in just one particular area. He was from the Netherlands and here with two lady friends, also rather rotund and they had been staying at this hotel for six months. SIX MONTHS. Despite what i just said about his odd figure, I wanted to be this man. Spending one half of the year at home and the other in a tropical location, where it seems they may never leave the hotel. They got up early, ate, swam, slept, ate, swam and slept. I believe they have figured out what life it all about.

Places of Interest

Hotel Melamun

Warung Dolphin – Go there for tasty cheap, cheap, cheap eats. Also live music every night from 9pm.